Coping with Injustice: Strike Your Stick Like Musa (AS)

Every time we turn on the news, scroll down our Facebook feeds or listen to the radio it seems as though all we hear about are stories of oppression, war, crimes, poverty and disease. When one crisis is over, another one emerges. News nowadays seems to be just that…bad news.
For many of us, the more aware we are of all the injustice going on, the more we find ourselves struggling with our faith. So how do we remain hopeful when there is so much global injustice?

We’ve all been asked the question by a non-Muslim. How can you believe in a God who allows people to suffer? The answer is by allowing ourselves to see a different perspective, that injustice is a means to deepen faith, not make us question it.

If we reflect on the creation of heavens and the earth, we have day and night, summer and winter. Allah has built balance into the universe. He says balance exists in everything.
When shaken, the system shifts towards balance again.

This ‘balance’ exists within everything but there seems to be no balance at all in human affairs, there is an inconsistency.

Everything else has a cyclical balance however all the injustice in this world seems to be unbalanced, there’s always all this ‘bad’. Always.

Unlike a storm which is followed by the calm or a harsh winter which is followed by summer. If all the injustice in the world was to become balanced, imagine what it would take for example, for the oppressed to no longer be oppressed, the poor to longer be poor and for the ill to regain their health. It would take a corrective phenomenon for us to achieve the same balance that exists within our universe.
So, therefore, how can anyone not believe in the Akhirah when there is so much injustice? We have to believe that this balance is in the Akhirah.

How do you live otherwise?
How can you not believe that there will be justice, when there are so many tyrants getting away with doing horrible things?
It is not logical to not believe.
Let this deepen our faith, the fact that there is an Akhirah where we are all held accountable for our actions. Subhanallah.

We are servants of Allah and we are Khalifas. We are told to ‘stand firm as witnesses to justice’. Ignite in your heart a passion for Akhirah.

On a smaller scale, the same goes for the way we react to outcomes in our life. We depend on our means, we want results straight away but we are told in the Qur’an to ‘work for justice’. The Qur’an does not tell us to bring about justice. We are not held accountable for outcomes, can you imagine if we were? Allah is the Most Just and the Most Merciful. We are only held accountable for that which we can control, which is our intentions and our actions.
So, do not worry about what may happen or that which we cannot control. Let injustice in this world deepen faith.
Let’s strive to not marry ourselves to means and outcomes because the sooner we realise we do not have any control, maintaining hope becomes so much easier.

We can look at Musa (AS) for example. When Musa reached the Red Sea, the tyrant army were in pursuit and his people were being unhelpful.
But how did Musa respond when the odds were against him? When he was faced by this sea with an army in pursuit and his people, who he was trying to save, were being unhelpful and growing impatient?

Did he doubt Allah in that situation? Did he once doubt Allah?
He said, ‘I have my Lord, He will not forsake me’.

And Allah responded. But did He just fix the problem? No, He commanded Musa to strike his stick.
And what happened? Subhanallah, when Musa struck his stick, the sea parted and they could cross to safety.

But why did Allah ask that? Allah did not need Musa to actually strike his stick in order for the sea to part. The stick is not what caused the sea to part, Allah did not need any help.
Rather, it was an order from Allah to His servant. All Musa had to do was have faith in Allah and strike his stick. And Musa did, without question.
In the same way, you and I are servants of Allah.
We are told to work hard and do our best.
We all have to strike our stick and know that whatever the outcome is, it is from Allah.
We do it because we obey Him. That is all we are asked.

Strike your stick.

Just do your best, believe the best in Allah and forget about the outcomes because we are only held accountable for that which we can control.

And the sooner we realise this, that’s when we can maintain hope when things are difficult and when things don’t go our way. We don’t lose hope. We realise that it is all in Allah’s control. Allah sees the injustice.

“Whether you conceal what is in your breasts or reveal it, Allah knows it. And He knows that which is in the heavens and that which is on the earth. And Allah is over all things competent.” Surah al-Imran [3:29].